Water-motor



UNITED STATES PATmvr OFFICE.

RoBERT o. SHEPHERD, or REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA.

WATER-MOTOR.

sPEcIFIcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 536,842, dated April 2,1895.

Serial No. 383,963. (No model.)

.To aZZ whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. SHEPHERD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Redlands, in the county of San Bernardino and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Water- Motors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of motors which receive their motive power from, and are arranged to utilize the force of a stream of water under pressure, delivered at high velocity against a series of wings arranged,transverse to the plane of rotation, upon the periphery of a rotating wheel.

The object of my invention is to provide a motor which will produce a maximum amount of power from a minimum amount of water.

The most essential and important difference between my improved motor and those of this class heretofore constructed consists in its being devoid of any element adapted to impede the lateral discharge of water from both sides of the wheel. I practically accomplish this object by providing a water-motor in which the parts are so constructed and arranged'and combined with the delivering nozzle, that the water received from such nozzle will impart to the wheel substantially all of the effective force of the stream and will then be fully discharged from the wheel immediately after its impact with the wings of the wheel, and practically without subsequent friction with the wheel or its wings.

My invention comprises a water motor of that class in which a water wheel arranged to rotate in a vertical plane is combined with a nozzle arranged to discharge upon the wings of such Water wheel at a tangent with the lower side of the rim of the wheel, having the rim of its wheel and the water receiving facesof the wings thereof straight transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal mid-section of my improved motor and case. Fig. 2 is a plain front elevation of my improved motor with aportion of the motor case removed to expose the wheel, with my improved water diverter in place. Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofmyimproved water diverter fixedin the bottom of the case.

thousand times in a minute;

It is to be understood that my improved motor is designed to utilize a stream of water of high velocity and that the Wheel is to run with great rapidity and it must be geared accordingly but such gearing may be of any approved character and illustration thereof is not considered necessary.

In order to utilize all the powerin a stream of high velocity itbecomes necessary that there be practically no waste of power at any of the numerous wings of the wheel, and slight errors in the arrangement of the wings with relation to the stream and with relation to each other and to the wheel upon which they are mounted will seriously impair the efficiency of the wheel. The wheel illustrated has upon it twenty-eight wings but the number is not arbitrary and can be increased as the size of the wheel is increased, and in practice the wheels run as high as fourteen hundred and more revolutions per minute so that the loss of power at any one wing will be multiplied many For this reason I direct special attention to the form and arrangement of the wings and the face or rim of the wheel on which they are mounted and also to the arrangement of the means for directing the stream of-water on to the wings. The face of the rim of the wheel is straight transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel and the faces of the wings arealso straight transverse to the plane of rotation. This is indicated by Fig. l in which only the sectioned portions of the rim and wings are visible, the view being a plain side elevation. The wings are rearwardly curved and are arranged with their faces at right angles to the plane of rotation of the wheel. The inner portions, bases or stems of the wings are respectively radial to the wheel while the outer portions are approximately tangent to the circle generated by the rotating wings and are also approximately in the tangents of the rim of the wheel. The nozzle or other means for directing the stream is arranged with its axis approximately at a tangent with the rim or periphery of the wheel. The means for applying the stream of water to the wheel consists essentially of a nozzle arranged with its axis horizontal and tangent with the bottom of the rim of the wheel as shown. When thus arranged, the water will be greatly assisted in leaving the ICO wheel almost at the instant of its impact, the force of gravity thereby acting more fully in conjunction with the other forces to free the wheel from water.

A is the wheel journaled to revolve. are the curved wings secured thereto.

0 is the nozzle arranged to discharge a horizontal stream of water upon the wings at a tangent with the under part of the rim of the wheel.

I have discovered that a great loss of power occurs in motors of this class from the impact of the dead or spent water against the fronts of the wings as they have heretofore been constructed. To overcome this serious objection, I arrange the outer ends of the wings approximately tangential to the periphery of the wheel, while the bases are approximately radial with the wheel, and I arrangea nozzle or other device to discharge a stream of water under pressure tangentially against the wheel and wings. Thus the radial base of each wing presents a practically plain face at approximately right angles with the tangentially discharging motive stream, which thus expends its force to the best advantage possible; and the outer portion of the wings being curved backward tangentially, that water which does not escape sidewise after expending its force 3 0011 the wheel and wings, tends to fiy 0E radially ortangentially. In either case it can not come into such contact with the front face of the wings as to impede them, while upon the other hand, if it strikes upon the rear face of the wing it serves to drive it forward, thus assisting to rotate the wheel. A sufficient amount of water rebounds from the rim of the wheel and strikes upon the wings to cause this source of power to be a valuable feature. The water which clings to the wings naturally flows toward the outer end of the Wing and is discharged from the tip thereof with very little friction.

The wings B are transversely plain, and the motor case I has its side walls arranged at a distance from the motor wheel in order to allow the ready lateral escape of the waterfrorn the wingsand wheel to preventthe formation of a cushion of dead water for the motive stream to spend its force against. This cushion is present to a greater or less extent where the wings are ridged, scoop, or cup shaped, or where one side of the wing is closed, or both sides are partially closed as heretofore used in various motors of this class.

To remove the water from the motor case after it has been discharged from the wheel and wings, and to prevent its rebound or back lashing against the wheel to retard its momentum, I provide a water diverter of peculiar shape, which is cheap and easily made, and effectually prevents any rebound of the water toward the wheel after striking upon such diverter, and which directs the spent water toward the outlet or discharge pipe K. This deflector consists of a downwardly and rearwardly inclined deflector plate D slotted (as indicated by to receive the water wheel and arranged below the axle of the wheel with the main portion of its face transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel and having the wings Gon each side of the wheel-slot or gain, twisted to cause its top to extend rearwardly and outwardly from such plane of rotation, and its body to be of a slight spiral curve from the top downward to the main face of the dcflector plate. By thus constructing and arranging the deflector, a curved surface is presented to the spray which will receive the water and conduct it without any splashing, down to the bottom of the machine. This peculiar shape enables me to accomplish better results from the use of one deflector than has heretofore been accomplished with two or more deflectors arranged one behind another. Afurther advantage is that its manufacture requires no special skill upon the part of the machinist who constructs the motor, because its construction is purely mechanical, the proper form resulting from rearwardly bending the outer top cornerof each deflector wing as described. The lower portion of the deflector is also slightly curved forward. This curve is easily formed and assists to diroot the water downward without splashing.

II is the frame in which the shaft of the wheel A is journaled.

In practice the water turned on through the pipe J and stop cock L, issues from the nozzle C with great force and is tangentially discharged against the wheel and wings. The outer ends of the wings being also tangentially curved are substantially parallel with the motive stream when passing in front of the nozzle and so instantly cut through the stream and expose the substantially radial base of the wing to the full force of the stream which is expended thereagainst. The transversely plain wings and rim of the wheel allow the water to spread outward and the greater part of the water is discharged from the sides of the wheel outward, sidewise. The wings are made narrow in order to facilitat'e this side discharge, the width of the wings which receive the stream from a one quarter inch nozzle, being about one and one half inches. For motors designed to be propelled by motive streams of greater diameter than this, the width of the wings should be increased, but in no case should the width be so great that the water discharged laterally will be caught by the base of the succeeding wing to retard the rotation of the wheel. The water which is thrown tangentially from the wheel by centrifugal force, is allowed unobstructed escape by reason of the tangential arrangement of the out-er portions of the wings. If any dead water strikes upon the rear of the wings, the curved shape thereof directs such dead water downward out of the path of the revolving wings. The water discharged from the wheel and wings is received by the water diverter and is conducted away from the wheel and is discharged from the inotor; also by arranging the side walls of the motor case at a distance from the wheel, the water escapes readily from both sides of the wings and wheel, and the walls of the casing condenses the spray (which by the time it reaches such walls has expended its force to a great degree) without causing it to be thrown back into the path of the wheel by reason of too close proximity to the wheel.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An impact water motor of the class set forth having its wheel narrow and arranged to revolve in a vertical plane and having the rim of the wheel and the water receiving faces of the wings straight transverse the plane of rotation and having the ends of such wings rearwardly curved; and having the nozzle arranged to discharge a stream of water tangentially against the wings of the wheel; and having all the parts of the motor so arranged that, when in operation, the wheel will become freed from the water which is driven upon it from the nozzle, immediately after the impact of such water on the wheel.

2. An impact water motor for utilizing a stream of high velocity comprising the combination of the wheel having the face of its rim straight, transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel, and the faces of its wings also straight transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel, and having its wings rearwardly curved and arranged with their faces at right angles to the plane of rotation of the Wheel and with their inner portions radial to the wheel and their outer portions approximatel y tangent to the circle generated bythe rotating wings; a motor case having its side walls arranged at such a distance from the sides of such wheel as to allow the readylateral escape of the water from the wings and wheel, and provided with a discharge opening, and a nozzle arranged to discharge a stream of water under pressure tangentially against such wheel and wings.

3. A water motor for utilizing a stream of high velocity comprising the combination of the wheel having the face of its rim straight,

transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel, and the faces of its wings also straight transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel, and having its wings rearwardly curved and arranged with their faces at right angles to the plane of rotation of the wheel and with theirinner portions radial to the wheel and their outer portions approximately tangent to the circle generated by the rotating wings; the motor case having its side Walls arranged at a distance from the sides of such wheel;

the water diverter comprising a downwardly the diverter set forth consisting of a downwardly and rearwardly inclined deflector plate slotted to receive the water wheel and arranged below the axle of the wheel with the main portion of its face transverse to the plane of rotation of the wheel and having the wing of each side of the wheel-slot or gain twisted to cause its top edge to extend rearwardly and outwardly from such plane of rotation and its body to be of a slight spiral curve from such top edge to the main face of the deflector plate.

5. In a water motor a water diverter provided with the side wing shown havingits top outwardly and rearwardly inclined from the plane of rotation of the wheel and having its body arranged in a slight spiral curve from the top downward.

ROBERT C. SHEPHERD.

\Vitnesses:

B. W. CANE, R. L. RIOHARDSON. 

